New Light in Darkness
by xzxxy
Summary: The sisters come up against a shadow demon and when things look their worst, help comes from an unknown child...


Author's Note: The first thing that I noticed when I browsed the Charmed section was that almost all of the ffs were about some alternate universe with Phoebe and Cole! This fic takes place in season 3 after Cole kills the witch in the sisters' attic. Mainly cause I didn't want a 2nd relationship to spoil my story (another one apart from Leo and Piper and I might puke on my keyboard), but also cause I live in the UK and season 4 isn't on yet. (  
  
Anyway, pleez read and R/R. Flames will be taken well.  
  
Prologue: The Stalker  
  
The woman walked on through the alley, the wind whipping her coat around her legs. She shivered and held the two halves of the coat together towards her chest with her left hand; her right remained firmly shoved into the coat pocket.  
  
It was a dark, windy night for the city of [insert Charmed city here]. The winds were almost at gale strength. The woman had only chosen to walk down the alley on this night because the walls on either gave minimalistic cover from the wind. The wind blew harder and the woman's pace quickened.  
  
I'm not afraid, she thought to herself, as if to justify haste. I just want to get to shelter from the wind quicker. Besides if anything should attack me…  
  
A small noise came from behind her, the faint noise of a puddle being walked in. The woman spun round quickly, but nothing was visible in the darkness. It was just the wind, she told herself, then she turned around and carried on walking. Suddenly she stopped again. Was that a footstep? I'd better check.  
  
The woman stopped thinking and began to concentrate. She closed her eyes and visualised the darkness around her. Almost immediately, the image in her mind was flooded with a pale blue light and she could see perfectly. Her Mind's Eye was active.  
  
Once she was confident that there was nothing in front of her, she rotated her view around slowly, taking in all of the sights around her. However, when she reached the viewpoint of her ear, she began to slow down, as if she didn't want to see the view behind her. She breathed steadily and began to psyche herself up.  
  
Come on Serena, she thought. There's nothing behind me. This view will just prove that.  
  
Eventually she took a deep breath, balled her fists and rotated her view quickly; straight to the view from behind her head.  
  
In the pale blue glow, she saw a dark outline stop mid-step. It was crouched low, head bent. The outline paused for a second, then suddenly dived for the back of the woman.  
  
This was all that Serena could take. Panic and fear gripped her and she let out a scream, then instinct took over. She ceased concentrating, opened her eyes, then charged headfirst into a run. Her high heels clacked on the alley floor, impeding her escape from the alley. Suddenly, she stumbled; her right leg flew out behind her and her shoe was sent off her foot. She managed to regain her balance before she fell, but she could not afford to stop. She carried on running wildly, slipping on the wet surface. Then a thin, wispy black smoke came out from the darkness in front of her. It gradually took the form of a small tower, then condensed into the form of a human. Serena shrieked once again and tried to stop, but her one remaining shoe could take no more. The heel snapped and the sudden change in balance caused her to fall headfirst into the stranger before her.  
  
The two collided and fell out of the alley into the pale light of a main street lamp. Serena landed on the floor hard, but her fall was cushioned somewhat by the stranger's arm. The man did not seem to take the fall so well. He screamed and rolled on the paving in pain. White hands clutched at a white face and his body dissipated into the wispy smoke.  
  
Serena pulled herself into a sitting position and tried to get her breath back. When she felt well enough to carry on, she stood up and regained her bearings. Almost immediately, a deep yet smooth voice whispered, "You'll pay for that, witch," into her ear. Serena gasped and pressed her back against the cool pole of the lamppost. Her breathing once again became ragged and she broke out into a cold sweat.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, Serena summoned the courage to take a step forward. Nothing happened to her, so she took another step, then another. The edge of the circle of light that was made by the lamp overlapped the circle of the next, giving her a clear path, but she dared not stray to the darkness of night surrounding the circles.  
  
She carried on moving in the same way, keeping to the circles but never leaving them. Eventually, she came to a gap between lamps where two consecutive lamps were not active. If she was to carry on, she had to brave the darkness.  
  
Don't worry, she told herself, there's nothing to be afraid of. Just keep your Mind's Eye active and you'll be fine.  
  
Once she reached the end of the final circle before the gap, she closed her eyes and concentrated. The image of the street in front of her was bathed in the usual blue glow within her mind and she rotated her view until it pointed behind her. Then she broke into a blind run to the next post. She turned the view of mind to face the scene in front of her, only to find the dark outline of the man standing between her and the light. She braced herself for collision, but the stranger was ready and waiting. He lifted one pale fist and knocked Serena in the side of the head. The force itself was so immense that Serena was thrown clean of her feet and landed in the road.  
  
Groaning, Serena opened her eyes. She was face down on the dank, damp gravel. She rolled over and stared up into the pale visage of her attacker, who grinned at her manically. The man straightened up and held out the palm of his right hand. "This is for that fall, witch," he whispered as a dark ball of negative energy appeared and grew in his palm.  
  
Suddenly, the street was bathed in light. The man let out a shrill shriek just before he reverted to his smoke form. Serena heard the screech of tyres and the sound of a door opening, just before the scene before her eyes became black. 


End file.
